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Q: If we ride the ferry from SF, will it be too far to walk to the Point Bonita Lighthouse from where we disembark? -- Retha A: Retha, if you're planning a beautiful long walk then this is a great idea. But the distance is about 7.5 miles, so if you were thinking about a shorter trek then a cab from the ferry or a bike ride to the Pt. Bonita Lighthouse from the Golden Gate Bridge may be a better way to go. The Google Map below shows one route and you can zoom in and out. Google Map Instructions: Use the "+" and "-" buttons to zoom in and out, the arrow keys to scroll the map, and the SAT button to see the satellite view."Ask Annie" Archives: Sausalito Ferry
"Ask Annie" is our page where readers ask questions about Sausalito. We archive the questions here by category so that they form an FAQ for all things Sausalito.
Q: It looks like the Blue and Gold Ferry to Sausalito costs more than the Golden Gate Ferry. Do you get anything extra? Which should I take to come to Sausalito?
A:
The big difference between Blue & Gold and Golden Gate Ferry is where their piers are located in San Francisco, because they're 1.7 miles apart. We cover this in our Sausalito Ferry Guide.The Blue and Gold ferries go to Pier 41 (adjacent to Pier 39, the big shopping and dining area) in the Fisherman's Wharf neighborhood of San Francisco. They also have some catamarans on the route, which are extra fun if only because they look so different.
The Golden Gate Ferry docks at the Ferry Building in San Francisco, a city landmark from before the 1906 Earthquake that was restored and revitalized about ten years ago. The Ferry Building is at the foot of Market Street, and is the focal point of the urban design of downtown San Francisco. Walk down Market Street and its role as the visual anchor for that part of the City jumps out at you.
The two sets of ferries come to the same pier in Sausalito, and the schedules of the two services are not that different. They do take different routes past Alcatraz to reach their home piers, so riding each is a little different.
What I'd suggest is that you pick the ferry you'll ride based on where you're staying in San Francisco. If you'll be at Fisherman's Wharf, take the Blue and Gold. If you'll be in Union Square, downtown, in SOMA, take the Golden Gate.
Ad if you love great views and taking photos, take a round trip featuring one of each. A Muni train or a short taxi ride will bring you back to your original pier.
Q: My grandchildren will be visiting and I want to take them to the Discovery Museum in Sausalito. Thought taking ferry might be fun. We live in Pacifica so will be driving to get ferry in SF. Can we walk to Discovery Museum after leaving ferry in Sausalito? Grandchildren are ages 2 through 11. Thank you -- Janice
A: Janice, the Bay Area Discovery Museum is a fabulous place to take young kids. The 11-year-old won't find as much to interest them as the younger ones will, but I think you're all likely to have a wonderful day.
You'll want to drive directly to the museum and make the Ferry an outing for a different day. Walking to the Museum from the ferry covers just over two miles of an absolutely beautiful route with picture postcard views, but obviously that's farther than little ones can go. There's lots of free parking at the Museum, and its also a beautiful area in which to take a walk along the shore.
Of course, if this is the only day when you could come to Sausalito, you can always take a taxi from the Ferry pier to the Museum. A taxi rank is just north of the little park that borders the main Ferry parking lot, and the Museum staff will call a cab for your retuyrn trip from the front desk.
If you did make the Ferry a trip for another day, there's a small park with a big fountain in it next to the pier parking lot that little kids enjoy. There's a rotating grill over a real charcoal fire at Hamburgers across the street, and they also serve chicken and hot dogs. Kids love watching their food cook on that grill in the front window with the flames licking up from the coals. One of our editors was once one of those kids staring through that window! There are many other places to eat near the ferry.
Thanks for writing to Ask Annie! Please let us now how your day went with the grandkids.
Q: How far is it from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Sausalito Ferry? A: If you're driving, it's about 2.3 miles (4 km) from the north end of the Golden Gate Bridge to the Sausalito Ferry pier. If you're walking, the safer and more beautiful route leads through the GGNRA, and is about 3.5 miles (5.5 km), closer to 4 miles (6.5 km) if you walk down by the Bay to see the sights. Here's a Google Map of the route: Google Map Instructions: Use the "+" and "-" buttons to zoom in and out, the arrow keys to scroll the map, and the SAT button to see the satellite view.
Q: Can you use credit cards to buy tickets on the Sausalito ferries?
A: This question highlights the dangers of doing this job. Our header says "An Insider's Guide Actually Written by Insiders." The questions come in, we know Sausalito, we rattle off the answers right off the top of our heads.
Except on this one I would have gotten it wrong. Somewhere in recent years policies changed, and only the old journalism training of "check everything twice" caused me to find out that I was about to misinform you on this reply. Thanks to the press and customer service offices at both Ferry companies, here's the correct answer:
On the Blue and Gold Fleet ferries to Pier 41 at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco: You can buy tickets in advance online using your credit card or use your card to buy tickets at the Blue and Gold Fleet ticket window at Pier 39 in San Francisco. Departing from Sausalito, you can buy tickets as you board the boat using cash or credit card. (Didn't know about that card option.)
On the Golden Gate Ferry you can do anything and everything using your credit card at the Ferry Building terminal, both to buy tickets and to load credit onto you Translink card. Coming from Sausalito you turn in your ticket as you leave the Ferry pier in San Francisco. If you have not bought your ticket and don't have cash they'll let you go to the ticket window there and use your credit card to pay for the ticket, but it's a hassle that will slow you down. (Also did not know about that option!)
Our Sausalito Ferry Guide is here. Thanks for asking the question, and for the remnder that there's a reason journalists are always supposed to double check!
Q: How long is the journey time on the ferrys to Sausalito?
A: This question comes to us from John, and it's a great one because the answer varies based on which service you ride, the time of day and the time of year. Here's how to plan the timing for your ferry trip.
First of all, check our Sausalito Ferry Schedule, which covers both ferry companies and saves you the hassle of looking them up separately. You'll see that scheduled transit times are usually 25 or 30 minutes, but on the weekends some Fisherman's Wharf voyages are scheduled to take as much as 55 minutes.
Some of these cases are routes that stop at Tiburon en route to Sausalito (especially in winter, when Sausalito and Tiburon routes from Pier 41 are combined). Other longer scheduled trips are because of heavy bicycle traffic on the ferries at certain times, because bikes take longer to load and unload than walking passengers.
During the summer in late afternoon Sausalito departures it's good to assume the ferries may run late. In recent years the number of summer visitors riding bikes across the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito has grown tremendously. Some days that traffic gets spread evenly across many ferry voyages and there are no delays. Other days, especially on weekends, a glut of bikes waiting for a single departure from Sausalito can cause delays. The ferry services have been adding extra boats to carry this additional traffic.
John, thanks for asking a great question!
Q: I'm thinking of using the Sausalito Ferry to commute to San Francisco from central Marin. Is there any free parking near the ferry terminal like there is in Larkspur? Everywhere I look there seem to be meters or paid lots.
A: No, I'm afraid there is no free parking in downtown Sausalito for times longer than two hours, and you need to park all day. If you were a resident of Sausalito you'd get special parking benefits and park for as little as $4.00 per day, but unfortunately that doesn't help in this case. Our page on parking in Sausalito is here.
The ferries have been coming to Sausalito for over 100 years, and "Downtown" grew up next to the ferry piers, making real estate around the ferries expensive. Downtown Sausalito 125 years ago was farther south in what we now call "Old Town," (alias Hurricane Gulch) where Bridgeway curves one block away from the Bay and then straightens out next to Golden Gate Market. It was the ferry terminal that attracted "downtown" to grow up half a mile to the north over the course of several decades.
Larkspur can offer free parking because prior to 1970 the area was a marsh, which is cheap real estate at its best. They filled in portions of the Bay to create the Larkspur ferry parking lot and the "terminal with a roof that still lets the rain blow in."
Q: Can you just ride the ferry from Sausalito to San Francisco, stay on board and ride back to Sausalito again?
A: Even a devoted Sausalito fan like me would have to say that San Francisco deserves more of your attention than that! But it's true that the Sausalito Ferry was just selected as the #2 best ferry ride in the world, after #1 the Star Ferry in Hong Kong. I've ridden both, and they're two of the top travel highlights of my life. Even if one of them was a few blocks from home!
But I haven't actually answered your question yet. If you want to ride the ferry from Sausalito to San Francisco and return immediately, you can do so. But you'll have to disembark, walk down the pier and re-enter the same boat through the boarding area.
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